A female resident of Lower Providence Township was driving on Evansburg Road at about 9 p.m. when she was stopped by a police impersonator operating a small four door vehicle with a blue dashboard-mounted light. After the suspect activated his blue light, the female pulled over into a gravel parking area at the intersection of Evansburg Road and Germantown Pike, police said.

The man approached the female and engaged her in conversation. There was no attempt to have the female exit her vehicle and there was no physical contact between the individual and the female. After a brief conversation, the suspect returned to his vehicle and both the suspect and the female drove from the area.

He is described as is described as a white male in his 50s, with short brown hair, approximately 5’11”, 190 pounds, wearing a dark Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) style uniform with a circular patch on the left sleeve, police said. There was no badge displayed on the uniform.

“This involved an 18-year-old female,” said Lower Providence Police Chief Francis Carroll. “There is an inherent assumption when you are being pulled to the side of the road that the person who pulls you to the side of the road is a bona-fide police officer who is authorized to stop vehicles with emergency lighting.”

Carroll said that a person impersonating a police officer “does not happen very often.”

Det. Michael Jackson is conducting the investigation, he said.

“We’re asking for the public’s assistance in identifying this individual,” Carroll said. “We would caution people when pulling to the side of the road with vehicles that have flashing lights that only police vehicles are equipped with red lights and blue lights.”

The vehicle being operated by the suspect is described as a small four-door tan vehicle with tinted windows and a blue dashboard mounted light.

The woman contacted the Lower Providence Township Police Department on Tuesday evening and reported the incident of the previous evening.

Police plan to release and distribute a composite sketch of the suspect.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Lower Providence Police Department at 610-539-5901.

The Lower Providence Township Police Department would like to advise motorists that vehicles equipped with only blue lights are not authorized to conduct vehicle stops in Pennsylvania. Police vehicles in Pennsylvania, both marked and unmarked, must be equipped with a combination of red and blue emergency lights. Also, if you are being signaled to stop by an unmarked vehicle that you believe may not be a police vehicle you may continue to drive at a slow speed to a safe, well lit, populated area before pulling over. You may call 911 and advise them that you are being stopped by a vehicle that you believe may not be a police vehicle and the dispatcher may advise the officer of the reason that you are not stopping. Once you have stopped for an officer in an unmarked car, you may request that a marked police unit respond, as well, to confirm that the unmarked police vehicle is legitimate.